Daughter of time
by Added-OC
Summary: Left on a orphanage step when she was just a baby, whisked away from her American home to London when she was a teenager, young Gallie Smith will soon find out why she never felt at home... And much, much more.


**The Watch**

For as long as she could remember, she had the watch. It wasn't much of a watch, simple and small, a silver pocket watch with a worn off engraving on the front and a broken adjustment wheel. It had a thick silver chain attached which she used to wear it about her neck to keep it on her at all times. She never really thought of it much, it was just some relic from her time spent in the orphanage; in fact she hardly ever toyed with it after her adoptive parents took her in. However she always kept it nearby, almost out of some subconscious need to have it near. Her 'family' had asked her about it many times and she always told them the same thing she had been told her whole life, it had been left to her by her mother along with a note stating that her name was Gallie.

The thing about the watch was it never ticked, not once the whole time she had it. It sat dead against her chest weighing so much more than it should have, and always putting off a soothing warmth that her adoptive mother told her was caused by her own body heat. All of her life it had been a simple memory of what she couldn't quite remember, just a small token of a life that she could have had if she hadn't been left on the steps of that orphanage all those years ago.

(** Adapting **)

"Gallie, come get your breakfast sweetie. You'll be late if you wait too much longer." As the voice of her mother echoed through her room she gently closed the book she had been reading and looked at the pressed and fresh looking school uniform sitting on her vanity across the room. She had been reading an astrology book again, still in her jammies and still tucked into her bedsheets. Moving from America to London had been harder on her than the others. Her adoptive mother had become pregnant months before and had decided to move back to her hometown so she could be near to her family once again. Gallie had been torn from the world she knew into one full of strangers, the change had caused her to become introverted and shy while at the same time it caused her to look to the stars for an escape. A girl who once wanted to excavate the earth to find what those before her had left behind, now wanted to leave it in hopes of finding something more beyond the stars.

She slipped out of her bed and stepped up to the uniform waiting for her. She ran her fingers along the rough fabric of its jacket and looked out through the foggy window to the street beyond. They lived in a rather normal sized flat, three stories up on their complex which was high enough for her to have a good view of the street as well as the rooftops beyond it, all the way to Big Ben far off in the distance. She shook herself out of the trance like stated that the view had put her into and changed into her school uniform quickly. Without a pause she rushed from the room and nearly bumped into her very pregnant mother who was busily hanging family pictures on the wall. She slipped past her and into the small kitchenette where her adoptive father sat sipping a cup of steaming hot tea.

"Nothing like good old black and white huh?" she joked as she pulled a piece of toast off the plate her mother had prepared for her.

"What I wouldn't give for some coffee and a nice drop of cream." He chuckled as he took another sip. She smiled as she bit into the toast that she held in her hand.

"And of course, you're still here." Her mother said as she entered the room holding her back and stomach at the same time.

"We were just talking a bit over breakfast." She said as she swallowed the chunk of toasted bread in her mouth, her mother scowled at her for speaking with her mouth full before turning to her father.

"Right, you take her to school then yeah, Gran and Mum are coming soon to help me set up for the new arrival." She smiled as she touched the round bulge that was now her belly, causing Gallie to frown and look down sadly. She had heard stories, back in the orphanage, stories from the older kids who got sent back; If you were bad you got sent back, if you touched things you were told not to you got sent back, If your adoptive family had a baby of their own you got sent back.

"Come on then Robert; let's get going so I'm not late for school." Gallie sighed as she spoke and turned to grab her bag from the hook nearby. Hanging from her bag was the pocket watch that she was found with, one that brought her comfort whenever she needed it, one that she hardly thought about until she felt absolutely alone. She watched as he stood and moved away from the table to grab his keys.

"I'll be back to help with the unpacking dear." He stated merrily as he waved Gallie towards their door, "Been here a month and we still aren't settled." He whispered as Gallie stepped past him. His American accent was refreshing for her, it made her feel a little less lost, at least until she remembered that he may not want her in a few more months. She thought of this and ran her thumb over the cool silver disk of the pocket watch as she followed him out of the door and down the hallway to the stairs. She followed him down and to the main room of the building. The air outside was chilly, causing her to pull her jacket closer to herself in an attempt to keep warm. She watched as Robert rushed down the street to their small car, the old clunker was all he could afford when they got to England, and he swore from that day on that he would work on it and make it the best running car in London, yet wasn't doing a very good job at it.

"Come on then. We can't be late on your first day." He smirked as he pulled up alongside her and she sighed and shook her head at his driving skills.

"You're on the wrong side of the road." She said as she slid into the passenger seat and clutched her bag to her chest. He frowned as he put the car into gear and made a u-turn onto the street. The drive to her school wasn't long, it rested only a few blocks away from her flat, but it felt longer due to the tense silence they had fallen into. The entire ride her thumb traced the round designs on the face of her watch. They were weirdly familiar to her and made her feel at ease when she traced their intricate circles.

The school was already bursting with life when she stepped out onto the front yard. Students piled about its front steps and lawn socializing and generally having a good time before their studies. She stepped a few feet away from the car and listened as it drove away, leaving her stranded in a sea of strangers who did not give her the time of day. She walked through them without looking at any one of their faces and made her way to the front office where the Headmaster sat in his own office, off to the side of the main one.

"Ah, miss Smith is it? Excited for your first day?" he asked as he leaned forward to rest his elbows on his desk.

"It's still sinking in." she stated as she held out her signed transfer papers, "My mom said that you would give me my class schedule." She finished as he accepted the papers from her.

"I knew a Mr. Smith once, a good fellow, a school teacher. You remind me of him." He said as he looked them over.

"Weird, my last name is only smith because the Smiths adopted me a few years back. I'm sure I'm no relation to the man you knew because I was born in Manhattan." She shifted from one foot to another as she spoke and touched the pocket watch lightly with her fingers.

"Quite right." He cleared his throat before pulling her schedule from under a stack of papers, "Can I have you call Luke Smith to the front office please Ms. Jenkens." He said as he pushed his intercom button down.

"Luke Smith to the Headmaster's office, Luke Smith." The loud voice of Ms. Jenkens echoed through the Headmaster's office as she summoned the stranger.

"A Smith showing around a Smith." He chuckled as Gallie shot him a confused glance, "I believe this will make your transition here a bit easier."

"Thank you sir." She said as the door behind her opened. Luke was tall and thin, with a military haircut and a pair of earbuds hanging from his neck. He smiled at her as he stepped up to the desk and turned to the Headmaster before nodding to the elderly man.

"You called me here sir?" he asked as he tucked a strange looking phone in his back pocket.

"Yes, I would like you to show Ms. Smith her around, get her to her classes and such." The Headmaster leaned back in his chair and rested his arms on his large belly as he spoke.

"Of course sir," Luke said before turning to Gallie and smiling, "I'm Luke." He stated as he held his hand out to her.

"I'm Gallie." She stated as she took the offered hand and shook it.

"An American eh, nice to meet you, and welcome to London." He said as he released her hand, "Come on then the classes are this way." As he spoke he stepped past her and out of the office. She nodded to the Headmaster before turning on her heel and following him into the large corridor that lead away from the offices.

"Gallie, that's a strange name. Is it popular in America?" Luke called back to her as she walked. He had the strange phone out once again and one earbud resting in his ear.

"No, it's pretty strange there to." She said as she pulled her bag closer to herself.

"Your parents must have given it to you so they could say their child was unique." He chuckled as he spoke.

"I wouldn't know. I was adopted." She answered softly, "I lived in an orphanage most of my life, never met my parents." She sighed as she spoke.

"I was adopted to. My mum got me when I was just a baby. Guess we are more alike than just our last name eh." He smiled as he looked back at her only to frown when he saw the look on her face.

"We were both abandoned then," she whispered as she looked away from him.

He led her to her class in silence then, and continued this way for the remainder of the day, finding her after class and leading her to the next, then the cafeteria when it came time. When school was finally over he led her to the front before heading off on his own. They did not exchange goodbyes, or even wish each other well, choosing to simply walk away from each other and leave the school in their own ways. Gallie climbed into the front of her father's car and watched him walking down the sidewalk as they drove past. He still had the strange phone and was moving it from side to side as he walked. As they passed by him in the car she thought she saw an image made of light coming out of it, but simply chalked it up to being a reflection on the old dirty window she had been looking out of.

"How was your day?" Robert asked as he turned the corner, successfully blocking the school and Luke from her sight. She shrugged and turned her eyes to the windshield before her, "That bad huh?" he asked with a frown.

"Not really, just not very memorable." She muttered as she crossed her arms. He nodded as they pulled to a stop next to a traffic light. A flash of movement caught her eye and she turned to see an elderly man running very quickly towards an old police call box at the corner of the next street. She watched him get in and close the door behind him as they turned and headed down the street to their flat.

 _Some strange people in this town,_ she thought as the blue box was blocked from her sight. They made it to their flat and spent the next few hours helping put things in their proper places, she avoided her adoptive Gran (Who looked at her as if she were a being from another planet) and her adoptive mothers Gran (who seemed to think she was someone named Suzie). After everything that had happened that day she was more than relieved to flop down on her bed and close her eyes against the gentle light that her computer screen let into the room. A soft ticking close to her ear lulled her to sleep as she clutched the pocket watch against her pillow.

(** Meetings **)

"If we integrate the molecular substances you just formed into the carbonite mixture you will see it bubbling for a moment before it steams." As her teacher droned on about the effects of the two chemicals she and the others in her class had just mixed she felt herself fading away. Her eyes drooped as his voice rambled on and on, lulling her to sleep.

"Gallie Smith!" she jumped as he shouted her name, nearly knocking over her steaming beaker of green liquid before looking around at the other students sitting in front of their own steaming purple beakers. Her lips pulled down in a frown as she realized that she had to have done something wrong, "You are simply brilliant." Mr. Smith adjusted his spectacles as he leaned forward on her desk to study her beaker, "How did you do it?" he asked as he ran a finger along the outside of the glass, as he pulled it away she noticed a fine coating of ice along its tip.

"I Just did what you said to." She stammered as she watched him.

"Yes, you did exactly what I said to." He smiled as he wiped the melting ice from his fingers and turned to the rest of the class, "So class, what did all of you do wrong?" he asked with a smirk. She could feel the eyes of Bethany on the back of her neck as he spoke to them, Bethany the girl who was known as the honor student of their entire school. She groaned softly as she covered her eyes with one hand in an attempt to block out the rest of the class. Under her desk she rubbed the pocket watch harder than ever before.

"Sir, we all used the materials you gave us. It could be a fluke that ours didn't turn green." She heard Bethany call out from behind her.

"Oh, but you did not use everything I gave you to mix did you Bethany?" The teacher's chuckle caused her to lower her hand and look up at him. She had just thrown together the ingredients without paying attention to what he was saying, Bethany had been right when she said it was a fluke.

"Can I please be excused to the bathroo- the Loo?" she asked as she raised her hand to catch his attention. He turned to her and raised one eyebrow as his hands rubbed together as they did when he was excited.

"Of course." He returned to being just as boring as before when she stood and moved away from her desk. She stepped past him and out into the hallway before heaving a long sigh. It had been better in America, where she could sit in the back of the class and be ignored. It was where she could just blend in to the crowd. She couldn't do that here, she had a different accent that caused her to stand out even without her teachers causing a fuss over an accidental good project. She had her bag in her hand, sneaking it out of class had been much easier than she thought it would be, in fact she had come up with a wonderful reason for having it if he had stopped her.

She pulled the strap over her shoulder and slipped down the hallway to the large double doors that led out to the back yard. Sneaking out of the school was simple, she was alone in the hallway because it was the middle of classes, and no one else would be wondering the halls this time of day. She opened the doors slowly and only wide enough to slip out of them before closing them back again. The long open back yard of the school would have been a cinch for her, if she hadn't gotten distracted by a strange whooshing sound coming from inside an old decrepit shed nearby.

She found herself walking to the shed without meaning to, the sound pulling her forward like a lead rope pulling a horse along the path to water. She found herself opening the creaky old door and stepping inside without any pause between. The inside was lit from a cylinder shaped light about six inches in diameter and about ten inches tall. The light rested on top of a very large blue box that held windows on all four sides and a pair of doors facing her as she entered. The sound stopped as the door closed behind her cutting her off from the rest of the world.

"What are you?" she whispered as she ran her fingers along the edge of the large blue police box. As her skin made contact with the painted wood the door of the box opened, just enough for her to notice that it had moved, "Okay," she stated as she pulled her hand back, "That was weird." She mumbled as she took a step back. A pale light emanated from within and the light called out to her, with a feeling in the back of her mind like she belonged there and should go inside.

"I should just go home." She said loudly as she turned to walk away, "I should head straight out those doors and just go home." She stated softly as she looked at the doors to the shack, "I should just, go." She looked over her shoulder at the door that now hung wide open, beckoning her inside, "Home." Her hand grasped the pocket watch tightly as she turned to face the box once again. She rubbed the engraving on its front cover as she stepped up to the door, "It could be a trap." She said, "Who would want to trap an American teenager?" she asked as she looked down at her hand and the watch it held, "Who would want a dumb American teenager." She smiled as she stepped into the doorway that released the light into the small cramped room.

Inside was much large than she expected.

Much

Much Larger.

She walked around the room that held a metal grated floor above what seemed to be a large jumble of wires. A cylinder in the center of the room made of glass was surrounded by what appeared to be a control panel of sorts. Around the perimeter of the room were rounded lights that only added to the strange feeling around the place. She stepped up to one side of the control panel and ran her hand over a line of lights, they flashed a bright red just before the loud noise from the glass cylinder sent her falling back onto her bottom. She looked up in time to see the room grow brighter with the light from whatever was moving up and down inside the cylinder.

"What the hell are you?" she asked as her eye grew wide.  
"T.A.R.D.I.S." she turned to see an image of herself standing behind her and looking ahead with a dead stare, "Time And Relative Dimension In Space. T.A.R.D.I.S Mach 40." The image said.

"You're, me?" Gallie asked as she stood to face it.

"No, I am the audio visual voice interface. I am here to assist you Gallifrey." It stated without blinking. She stepped around it, pushing her hand through and pulling it back as her eyebrow rose in confusion.

"You're a hologram." She stated.

"I am the audio visual voice interface." It repeated, "I am here to assist you Gallifrey."

"Why do you keep calling me that? My name is Gallie. Gallie Smith, not Gallie Frey." She frowned as she stepped back up to the control panel, "What is this thing?" she asked as she pounded upon it with her fists in frustration.

"T.A.R.D.I.S." it repeated.

"Okay I get that but, what is a T.A.R.D.I.S?" she asked as she rubbed her forehead where a headache was beginning.

"A Ship required for travel through all of time and space. Home planet, Gallifrey." It stated.

"A space ship." She chuckled, "And a time machine, in a phone box." Her smile faded as a shadow from outside moved. She ducked behind the control panel to hide from whoever decided to walk in. As she sat there breathing as shallowly as possible she noticed a corridor leading off from the main room. She quickly crawled down through it and hid behind the first turn in the larger and larger corridor. She wondered briefly just how big the ship was as she looked around the corner to see who had cast the shadow.

"Hello Sexy." She held her hand over her mouth to muffle the gasp when none other than her teacher Mr. Smith stepped up to the very control panel she had been standing at just moments before, "Come on, old girl there is no sign of any odd activity anywhere. Why did you bring me here?" he asked as he petted the same row of lights she had touched only moments before.

"Gallifrey." She could hear what sounded like his own voice speaking back to him.

"No this isn't Gallifrey, this is earth, 21st century." He sounded aggravated as he spoke, "I was supposed to be attending the wedding of Henry the eighth. Come on now." He stated loudly.

"Gallifrey is here." The distorted voice that sounded very close to his own answered. That's when she saw the image of him standing where the one of her had been. He was talking to the audio visual voice database just as she had been.  
"Who are you teacher man?" she whispered softly.

"The Doctor." The hologram had answered her question causing a confused look to come across his face.

"Who are you talking to?" a strange humming sound echoed around her as he held up a long device with a glowing green light at the end.

"Gallifrey." The hologram answered.

"Oh, I get it. You're broken." He stated with a huff, "Gallifrey is gone. You know that." She looked around the corner once more as he spoke. The only way she could describe him in that moment was broken.


End file.
